'One Another Series - Do Not Slander or Grumble Against One Another

This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.

This year, in these podcasts, I am focusing upon the “One Another” scriptures found in the New Testament as viewed

through the lens of leadership.

Today’s podcast comes from two verses in the book of James. 4:11 and 5:9. Unlike other scriptures thus far in this

series, rather than dealing with things that we are to do, today’s scriptures instruct us regarding behaviors to avoid as

we interact with one another.

The first portion of James 4:11 admonishes us “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.”  In 5:9, James

elaborates on this theme with “Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The

Judge is standing at the door!”

To slander is to make a false statement that damages another person’s reputation.

To grumble against someone is to complain about them in an annoyed way.

I can’t speak for others; but if I am honest and keeping score, I might be one out of two on these. By this, I’m saying that

while I may not slander others, I can be prone to becoming annoyed with and complaining about others sometimes.

This falls short of James’ instruction.

One might ask. “Why should I not slander or grumble against another?” Here are some harmful consequences that

come to mind:

 This behavior damages our personal relationship – and our ministry relationship – with the other person

 As a leader, such behavior reduces our followers’ loyalty to us and likely to the organization as well

 When others see the leader behave in these harmful ways, they will tend to model our bad example. This can

lead to a toxic work or church environment that negatively impacts many people.

 Slander, that is, intentionally trying to damage the reputation of another person, creates strife within the Body

of Christ. This, too, is toxic and extremely harmful.

 When unbelievers see us treating others this way, it reinforces their bad opinion of Christianity. They may think,

“if that is the way they treat one another, I don’t want any part of it.”

Before I close, I must warn us of the outcome of these behaviors toward one another. James clearly cautions us that

“you will be judged.” In my English translation, it is the Judge (uppercase J), not judge (lower case) who is watching. The

context, in the previous verse, is the Lord’s second coming and the judgment associated with that event.

Be careful with the example that we set. Others are watching and will follow. We want to build up and not tear down.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.